Pinecones
are a great way to add foraging, shredding and chewing fun to your
parrot's life! Find clean pinecones (preferably away from car
pollution and free of mold or mildew). If necessary you can wash
them and air dry. Give them free choice to your parrots as a foot
toy, tie it to the cage with
vegetable tanned leather strips or
natural sisal
or put a couple into a lunch bag, twist the top and
hang in their house to encourage foraging. You can also dress them
up by spreading some peanut butter on them and rolling in seeds.
Plain or dressed, our parrots' love pine cones!

Supplements: If you have
difficulty getting dry (powdered) additives into your parrot, try spreading a
favorite food on a cookie sheet (like cracked walnuts, pistachios, brazils,
etc.) and very lightly spray them with a product like Pam then lightly sprinkle
the additive on top. Viola ... powders will stick and hopefully end up
INSIDE your parrot!

Seed: DON'T REFRIGERATE SEED to
keep it longer! Freezing or keeping it in a plain brown bag or 'breathable'
poly bag should be a sufficient means of storage in most climates. Larvae
is healthier than mold. Invisible mold will grow in a matter of a day or
so in the refrigerator.

Raisins: Raisins are coated with a sulfur compound as an anti
fungicide when they are produced. It is easily removed by putting the
raisins in a pan of boiling water for about an hour. You need not continue
to boil the water, just add the raisins and remove from the burner.
(submitted by valleygifts@chartermi.net)

Beta Carotene Snacks: Supplement vitamin A (beta carotene) by using a
small jar of carrot or sweet potato baby food, spread on whole wheat bread or
cooked grain pasta. Even older birds who've been on horrible diets seem to
this it's a treat!) (submitted by staylor7@cox.net)

Chopsticks: I also have a suggestion for cheap foot toys. Here
in Vancouver, there is a bounty of sushi restaurants and Chinese eateries.
Horton (Citron Cockatoo) loves the paper-wrapper disposable wooden
chopsticks from these places. First, he unwraps them, then he separates
the 2 sticks, then he chews on them. After he separates them, he almost
invariably drops one while he chews on the other. I use the dropped one to
skewer fruit & vegetable chunks for him. (submitted by Laura,
Vancouver, BC) Note: We took
Laura's advice and added them to our foot toy page!

Fruit Fly Remedy: Take an empty, clean plastic soda bottle and cut
the top off (about 1/3 from the opening). Insert the top (the portion that
looks like a funnel) going down inside the other half of the bottle. Pour about
an inch of vinegar into the bottle. The fruit flies can't resist the sour
smelling vinegar and once they get in, they can't get out. Inexpensive way
to get rid of those pesty insects! (submitted by Marcy, Austin, TX)

Do you have a hint or tip that
you'd like to share with other parrot lovers? If so, please
email
it to us and if we use it ... we'll give you a free gift in with your next
order!